The placement of transmission lines for signal propagation through the various layers of a multilayer ceramic package is well known in the art. Such transmission lines are typically in the form of a conductive paste material (such as silver, gold, palladium, platinum or other metals) which is screen printed onto the layers of green ceramic tape which are then fired to form a dense, ceramic package.
Also of great interest to a designer of multilayer ceramic packages are the use of small holes in the sheets of ceramic, called vias, which are also filled with a conductive material. The vias serve the purpose of connecting the transmission lines on the various layers of ceramic through the multilayer package. Aside from merely connecting transmission lines on consecutive ceramic sheets, vias may also be used to connect the top and bottom ground planes in a ceramic package, for example. This is oftentimes necessary in order to keep the ground planes at equal potential. In any event, the strategic placement of vias and transmission lines in the ceramic package is one of the primary responsibilities of a multilayer package designer.
There are numerous factors which must be considered in the design of these multilayer packages. Printed lines and vias typically come in sizes and spacings that are standard to the industry. Printed lines and spacings have practical limitations. For example, 5 mil lines and 5 mil spacings are now readily achievable using typical multilayer processing equipment. Moreover, via diameters are also set by industry standards. Vias are typically 10 mils in diameter with the current technology. Of course, via diameters for various tapes will be a function of the tape thickness. Stated another way, for a given tape thickness, only certain sized vias may be properly filled with a conductive material.
If a via is too large, it may require a prohibitive amount of conductive paste to be properly filled and it may further weaken the mechanical integrity of the package. Conversely, if a via is too small, it may not be easily filled and it may cause a break in the conductive path which forms the transmission line.
Another concern is that by placing ground vias and transmission lines in too close a proximity to each other, they may interfere or interrupt the signal itself. For example, in a multilayer ceramic filter package, poor placement of transmission lines and vias may result in degradation of certain electrical properties such as insertion loss, return loss, or the Q (quality factor) of a transmission line. Poor placement of transmission lines and vias may also result in undesirable coupling, unintended electrical shorts, and unacceptable power requirements.
As is described above, the design of a multilayer package may be a complex process and formidable challenge. All of this is further complicated by the fact that the telecommunications industry is constantly seeking smaller packages, which have lower profiles and smaller package dimensions. Thus, designers are being forced to employ innovative designs to meet ever tightening specifications.
FIG. 1 shows a multilayer ceramic package 100 which is representative of a multilayer package found in the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, package 100 is made from a set of sheets of ceramic material 102 which are laminated together to create a multilayer package. Patterns of conductive material are screen printed on to the various layers of the sheets of ceramic material to create a transmission line structure 104. Four vias 106A, 106B, 106C, and 106D form ground vias which connect a top ground plane 108 to a bottom ground plane 110. Significantly, the four ground vias 106A, 106B, 106C, and 106D are located outside and around the periphery of the transmission line structure.
FIG. 4A shows a plan view of a multilayer ceramic package also having ground vias outside a transmission line structure as is found in the prior art. Referring to FIG. 4A, a multilayer ceramic package 400 is provided. On one dielectric sheet 402, a printed pattern 404 is deposited. Other printed patterns, for example 405 shown as a dashed line in FIG. 4A, are printed on other layers of the multilayer ceramic package 400. The printed patterns are connected to form a transmission line structure. Four ground vias 406 are located around the outside of the transmission line. It should be noted that the area 408 internal to the transmission line does not contain any ground vias and remains as unused real estate on the dielectric sheet 402.
A multilayer ceramic package design in which a ground via is strategically placed through the center of another transmission line structure, namely, a substantially spiral shaped transmission line structure, which reduces the overall size of the multilayer package without adversely effecting the electrical performance of the package and which maintains the structural integrity of the package and which can be achieved using conventional multilayer processing techniques would be considered an improvement in the art.